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Felicia Gustin

Felicia Gustin has been with War Times since the beginning. She currently works at SpeakOut, a national organization working primarily with colleges, universities, and high schools and dedicated to the advancement of education, racial and social justice, leadership development and activism.

She is a long-time activist in international solidarity, peace, racial justice and labor movements. She was a journalist for 10 years in Cuba and is currently working on several projects - an historical memoir and a poetry collection, among others.

Articles:

Talk about being caught in a time warp. The antiquated U.S. embargo against Cuba has never looked so outdated, so illogical and so totally inexplicable to any of the other 179 nations that have relations with the island.

So you think it’s going to end anytime soon? I wouldn’t hold my breath. Sure, with the U.S. elections over, there is a cacophony of voices saying the opportunity is at hand.

Last year, my daughter performed in and directed UCLA’s production of Eve Ensler's award-winning play "The Vagina Monologues." The show was part of a worldwide campaign to raise awareness and money for organizations working to stop violence against women and girls.

Ok, I'll admit it. I was a card-carrying NRA member as a teenager. We lived in a rural area where gun racks on pick-up trucks were commonplace. The guys who I did farmwork with were into hunting. Me? I loved to line up tin cans on a log and blast them with my .22 rifle. It didn't take much to make me happy.

One thing I found particularly annoying about the presidential elections was all the talk about the “middle class.” Whoever that is. Is is someone making $30,000 a year? Or as some politicians would have us believe, someone pulling down $250,000 annually? And everyone in between?

The rhetoric is vague and the term certainly doesn’t provide any real economic clarity. Morover, it fits in with the narrative that does not acknowledge how many people in the United States are actually living in or on the brink of poverty.

We’ve been hearing about extreme climate around the world and even the New York Times recently weighed in, citing numerous examples: China enduring its coldest winter in nearly 30 years, Brazil in the grip of a dreadful heat spell, Eastern Russia registering temperatures of minus 50 degrees Fahrenheit, bush fires raging across Australia, Pakistan inundated by unexpected flooding, a vicious storm bringingrain, snow

The war on public education continues with the now familiar one-two punch of demonizing teachers and discrediting teachers unions. And it's come to a theater near you in the form of the heavily promoted new film, Won't Back Down, starring Viola Davis, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Holly Hunter.